There are two wildcard teams thrown into the eight-team mix for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Team Europe encompasses players from any European country, with the exception of Finland, Czech Republic, Russia and Sweden (who already have teams in the tournament).
Team North America is a whole different beast. The team consists of 12 Canadian players and 11 from the United States (also with teams entered). The extra caveat is, the pool is limited to players who will be 23 years of age or younger as of October 1, 2016, and no player in that age rabge was eligible to play for either Team Canada or Team USA.